Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Over the weekend
I got our menu plan finalized and posted on the side of our refrigerator. As usual the plan is based on the items I
already have in our pantry and freezer. Once
again there were quite a few meals I had planned to make and didn’t due to
having plenty of leftovers that needed to be eaten. I went ahead and put them on this month's
plan so if some of these sound like repeats that is why.

This is what we
have planned for our culinary future:

Breakfast
Burritos, Fruit

Macaroni
& Cheese, Peas & Carrots

Grilled
Hotdogs, Tater Tots, Veggies & Dip

Split
Pea Soup, Cornbread, Garden Salad

Spanish
Rice, Tossed Green Salad

Creamy
Tuna & Biscuits, Buttered Peas

Patty
Melts, Steak Fries, Veggies & Dip

Nachos

Chicken
Enchiladas, Garden Salad

Meat
Loaf, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Sweet
& Sour Pork, Steamed Rice, Stir Fry Veggies

Grilled
Ham & Cheese Sandwich, Tomato Soup

Pepperoni
Pizza, Tossed Green Salad

Tortellini
Soup, French Bread, Garden Salad

Swedish
Meatballs, Egg Noodles, Steamed Broccoli

Chinese
Chicken & Cabbage

Cheese
Omelets, Toast, Fruit

Pesto
Pasta, Tossed Green Salad

Tuna
Melts, Potato Chips, Veggies & Dip

Grilled
Steak, Baked Potatoes, Garden Salad

Sopa
Seca, Corn

Lemon
Chicken, Rice Pilaf, Peas & Carrots

Pancakes
& Sausage, Fruit Salad

Clam
Chowder, Garden Salad

Salisbury
Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Mushroom
Fettucine Alfredo, Spinach Cranberry Salad

Our
Easter Dinner:

Glazed
Ham, Potato Salad, Baked Beans, Cabbage Salad, Deviled Eggs

It all sounds pretty delicious to me. What great meals do you have planned in
April?

Monday, March 30, 2015

For Sunday breakfast I made
pumpkin waffles with bacon and homemade syrup.
I saved the rendered bacon fat in a pesto jar I had washed out and
saved. Mmmmm. Liquid gold.

I took a Fred Meyer survey
and earned an extra 50 fuel points to use on my next gas purchase.

To use up the rest of the
can of pumpkin and some leftover cream cheese I had I baked a big sheet pan of
pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting.
I sent some over to our neighbors and took a plate to work.

We gave the chickies their
first taste of homemade bread. They love
it!

I bottled up nineteen 16oz.
bottles of my latest batch of home brew.
After washing out the keg I went ahead and cooked up a new batch and
refilled it. I put the filled bottles
into our hall closet to carbonate.
Because our hot water heater is in there the temperature is consistent
and the perfect environment for this part of the process.

I restocked my produce
drawer in the refrigerator super duper cheap by using a bunch of the coupons
Fred Meyer sent me and buying items on sale.

The seeds my daughter saved
from a Roma tomato and I planted using the bottom of a half gallon milk jug and
soil from the garden are up. They
sprouted in just a week so I decided to compost the other plantings and replant
using the garden soil instead of what is in the planters. Hopefully I'll do better this time around.

Scratching around by the pond

After work I stopped by and
picked up a new 3 cubic foot bale of pine shavings at the feed store as we had
run out. Not only will this be used in
the chicken coop, and currently the brooder, but I plan to use some of it to
mulch the garden too. The bales run
$9.99 each and they last a really long time.

Friday, after dinner, we
had Family Movie Nite complete with ice cream cones. We watched X Men on YouTube through our
Roku. The girls had never seen it and
they really liked it. It had been quite
awhile for me as well.

Dust bath in the strawberry bed.
Enjoy it ladies before this area is off limits.

We got quite a bit of rain
last week which helped tremendously to water the lawn and as a result the grass
seed has begun to sprout. We only had to
hand water twice. I was very excited to
see the new grass poking up through the old pine shavings we used to mulch it in. I am hopeful our little patch of lawn will
regain its former glory this year.

Friday, March 27, 2015

I wasn’t quite sure how it would be to raise baby
chicks inside the house this time of year but so far it is working out
fantastically. It is too chilly to have
them in our garage like I did last time.
I can't believe it has been a month already and our girls are doing
really well. They are growing up and are
healthy and happy in their dog crate turned chick brooder.

Surprisingly the layer of pine bedding has been
tremendous in providing the girls a comfortable floor in the brooder and
absorbing odors. We keep it fairly tidy
throughout the week and I do a complete clean out once a week. The used bedding goes into our compost bin.

During the daytime I keep the light on so they have
faux daylight and then when the sun starts to go down I turn the light off and
let them settle down and prepare for sleep.
I have an old throw that I cover the brooder with to make it dark inside
and they are off to dreamland.

Matilda helping me shop for chicken feeders

We wash their feeders often as they tend to mess
them up on a regular basis and as they grow they are eating and drinking more
too. I the past two weeks, as the
weather has permitted, we take them outside onto the lawn to play around and
stretch their legs. They have a
ball. After about an hour they are all
tuckered out and let us know they are ready to head back in by jumping into our
laps and hunkering down.

Edith and Penelope

I love how they get so excited to see me when I come
home from work every night. They rush to
the door of their brooder and hop up and down until I come and say hello. Most people don't really think of chickens as
affectionate creatures but I beg to differ.
Our girls love to be held and cuddled.

Nothing quite like being mauled by a bunch of sweet
little chickies. A little bit crazy aren't I?

This week I gave them some of my homemade bread and
they absolutely loved it. I've given
them lettuce leaves and they aren't as excited about those yet but when I gave
them a slice of tomato they went nuts.
One grabbed it and the chase was on.
I ended up getting them another one so they would settle down and share.

Rosemary and her sisters. Pretty happy group of girls.

Now that they are getting bigger and doing so well I
am far less nervous about them getting ill and passing away. With the rough start we had in the beginning I'm
afraid I was a bit of an anxious chicken mommy there for awhile.

They are so sweet and I just love them to
pieces. And spoiled. Oh my gosh.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

One
of the easiest ways to save money and control waste is to be diligent about
using our leftover food. Most of our
leftovers get consumed in our weekday lunches.
Others are eaten for supper saving me from having to make an entirely new
meal and giving me a little break.

I
save leftover veggies and broth in a plastic container in the freezer to add to
soup. Whenever I brown meat I like to
remove a little to freeze and use later to top a pizza. Stale bread becomes bread crumbs or croutons.

Freezing
things we can't eat up right away makes for a quick grab for someone's lunch
later down the road.

In the rare
instance we have sour milk it is used in recipes and baked goods. Especially pancakes and waffles.

We
compost our kitchen scraps. Soon a lot
of that will be going to our chickens to supplement their feed and give them
variety. I love to spoil my girls and
give them lots of bread and produce.

I've
written a couple of other posts on using up leftovers. You can read them here, here and here.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

I
recently came across this article by The Organic Prepper that was shared on
facebook. I had to read it to see how I
compared:

Do you
enjoy saving a buck more than most people? Do you have a black belt in
frugality? Here are 20 surefire signs that you are embracing your cheap side.
How many things on this list apply to you?

1.You take it as a personal challenge to
see how long you can go without spending money. The game is even better if you
have a spouse or friend with whom you can compete.

Okay yes, I have had a few "No
Spend Months" here and there.

2.You don’t let food go to waste. You
have an ice cream tub in your freezer nearly full of odd bits of leftovers,
awaiting their reincarnation into “leftover casserole” or “leftover soup”.

I will save leftover veggies in a
small plastic container, but that's usually about it.

3.It’s physically impossible
for you to drive past an interesting-looking garbage pile at the curb during
somebody else’s spring cleaning frenzy, much to the dismay of your children.
(Although there’s always that one kid who’s excited to dig through the pile
with you!)

Nope. I'm not interested in that activity whatsoever
as it leads to clutter and I don't do clutter well. I have no problem however, with those who
do. In fact, I'm a bit envious of those
that find stuff and give it a fabulous makeover.

4.Your first stop at the grocery store
is the “last day of sale” rack in each department. When you get home with your
stash, you immediately set to freezing, dehydrating, or canning your inexpensive score.

You know this is true about me. I am always checking out the markdown bins
and racks for rock bottom prices. My
freezer is pretty much filled with meats that were "Reduced For Quick
Sale".

5.Your kid looks at a necklace or pair
of earrings at the “cool” store and scoffs, “We could make this.” Then
she puts it back and asks you to take her to the thrift store for items to
disassemble for the supplies to make her own accessories.

Guilty. Both of my girls have said this on more than
one occasion. We have an entire storage
tote filled with beads and jewelry making supplies.

6.You don’t have cable. Your viewing, if
you watch television at all, is done via an internet subscription
service or even arabbit ear
antenna on top of the TV.

We don't have cable and we do have an
Amazon Prime membership which includes a vast selection of streaming movies and
television shows. We also watch Hulu and
PBS online which is free. Our Roku
allows us to watch online programming with our TV.

7.A day of yard-saling is planned
out like a military invasion: you have a Mapquest route of at least a half
dozen sales, a thermos full of coffee, a wallet full of small bills, and a list
including measurements of all empty spaces in your home that need to be filled,
kitchen items you are seeking, books your daughter wants to read, and upcoming
birthdays. Your alarm is set the night before, a blueberry muffin is
wrapped up and ready to go on the counter, and your comfy clothes are laid out.

I rarely yard sale but I do look for
items on Craigslist and eBay. I also
enjoy shopping thrift stores and antique shops.
I sometimes think I should be better about yard saleing. Maybe this year?

8.Before throwing anything in the
garbage you take a few seconds to ponder how it might be reused. Then, you either
compost it, put it aside for a re-purpose, or you turn it into homemade “log”for your fire.

Yep, I must admit to this one. I'm an avid composter and recycler. My goal is to send as little to the landfill
as I possibly can. Haven't made any fire
logs, however. J

9.If something breaks, you try to fix
it. If it mustbe replaced or purchased, you always look
for a used version first before doling out the money for a new one.

Of course. I try to fix it first, if not then I replace
it. I do shop around to find the best
quality I can for as little as possible.
Sometimes it's used, sometimes it's new.

10.You
know how to darn socks….and you do it.

Yes.
Moving on.

11.You
havea special super-skinny rubber
spatula earmarked just for getting the very last bit of whatever out
of jars and bottles in the kitchen.

Doesn't everybody?

12.You
wash and re-use sandwich baggies, and you’ve even rigged up a little drying
rack for them beside your sink.

Don't be silly. It's quart and gallon size and I use a hanger
and clothespins and hang them to drip dry over my laundry basket.

13.You
are outraged at the idea of spending $18 on a jug of laundry detergent becauseyou could make a year’s supply for
that amount of money.

I wouldn't spend that much on laundry
detergent to be sure and I've tried the homemade stuff and didn't care for
it. I just buy it on sale and use
coupons to save even more.

14.You
have recently advised your child to cut off that teeny bit of mold on the brick
of cheese because the other side is just fine.

Fortunately cheese never lasts long
enough in our house to grow mold. So no
on this one.

15.You
don’t carve the Jack-o-Lanterns until the day before Halloween so that you can cook,
puree, and can the pumpkin the day after Halloween.

I admit I've thought about it but I
don't like to carve jack-o-lanterns and I prefer the little sugar pumpkins.

16.You
know how to repair a plastic clothes hamper by “welding it” with a bread tag
and a hot glue gun.

Not quite but I do rinse out every
last bit with warm water before I toss the empty bottle into the recycle bin.

18.You
can’t really understand how other moms spend hundreds of dollars on scrapbooking
supplies, when yourscrapbooks filled
with reclaimed do-dads look just as awesome for mere pennies.

I do buy scrapbooking supplies but I
keep the expenses to a minimum. I am pretty
particular about my stuff being archive safe.

19.The
concept of spending $25 dollars or more to get your nails done is as foreign to
you as the concept of riding an ostrich around your yard.

True, true, true. I did it briefly before I had my girls but
couldn't quite justify the expense. Especially after figuring out the total
annual cost. I went to the beauty supply
store and bought the stuff to do them myself and then it was the realization
that I was spending a tremendous amount of time on this little project and it
all just seemed too wasteful so I stopped.
Plus I thought the chemical exposure probably wasn’t a good idea either.

Does the list above make you say, “It’s like Daisy knows
me!!!”? What are some other signs that you might be a cheapskate? We’ll do a
reader’s choice version soon!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Flexibility ruled
this month. My stock up meat item this
month was supposed to be ground pork but I stumbled across a couple of nice
tavern hams in the markdown bin and decided to go in that direction. I still had stock up money left so I bought
four packages of bacon on sale. We
didn't have any ham or bacon so this was perfect timing. I also spent a lot of this month's budget to
stock up on a lot of pantry staples and some frozen items.

My non food budget
came in perfectly at $24.06. I was
thrilled with that. I bought cat food,
cat litter, facial tissues and sandwich bags.
I used coupons and purchased everything on sale so I was spending as
little as possible on each item. The
sandwich bags I bought at the dollar store.

This is the food
breakdown for the month. The items I
highlighted are the stock up items:

Groceries

$$$

Whole wheat flour - 50#

13.44

Cash & Carry

Oatmeal

13.75

Cash & Carry

Orange juice (2)

1.98

Store Coupon

Butter (2)

4.00

Store Coupon

Pot roast

9.19

Markdown

Salad dressing (2)

0.98

Sale/Coupon

Nutella

2.09

Markdown

Oyster crackers (2)

0.98

Store Coupon

Spaghetti sauce (10)

7.50

Sale

Canned veggies (8)

2.00

Store Coupon

Frozen dinners (10)

7.50

Sale

Frozen sausage (10)

7.50

Sale

Bacon (4)

7.96

Store Coupon

Ham (2)

10.71

Markdown

Ground beef (2)

4.77

Markdown

Tomatoes

0.79

Sale

Onions

0.81

Bananas

1.01

Sale

Tortillas (4)

3.00

Sale

Snapple - 6pk

4.99

Sale

Bottled water

0.75

Sale/Coupon

Lettuce

1.49

Store Promotion Coupon

(5.00)

Store Coupon

Spaghetti (3)

2.37

Sale

M&Ms (2)

4.00

Store Coupon/Coupon

Parmesan

1.59

Store Coupon

Milk - 1/2 gal. (2)

1.98

Store Coupon

Pepperoni

1.49

Markdown

Baking cocoa

1.59

Markdown

Whipped topping mix (2)

2.58

Markdown

Cheese (2)

2.33

Store Coupon

Blue corn chips

1.69

Markdown

Tortilla chips (3)

2.00

Store Coupon

Tuna (4)

2.39

Store Coupon

Customer Appreciation Rebate

(7.55)

Olives

1.00

Dollar Store

Cheese slices (2)

2.00

Dollar Store

Sundried tomatoes

1.00

Dollar Store

Eggs - 1 doz (2)

1.98

Store Coupon

Parmesan

0.99

Store Coupon

Milk - 1/2 gal.

0.99

Store Coupon

Lettuce

0.88

Sour cream

1.25

Coupon

Total

$ 128.74

It looks like I
went over a little bit but I actually didn't go over as much as you think. I had change leftover from my January and
February budget to use. I will, however,
be starting March out with a 31¢ deficit, which I can comfortably live with.

You'll notice the
$5 OFF $50 purchase coupon from Albertsons and my $7.55 rebate from Fred Meyer
gave me an extra $12.55 in buying power this month. Free money!
I'll take it!

$128.74 ÷
31 days ÷3 people = $1.38 per person per day!

How did you save money on
groceries this month? Were you able to
find some good sales and stock up on anything?